Lev

  I huffed out a long breath. “Okay, so it wasn’t just me then, right?”

  Nas sighed, running a hand down her face. “No. Definitely not just you.”

  Lev, clueless as ever, asked, “What are you two talking about?”

  Nas scoffed out loud as I rolled my eyes. I stated calmly, “Anika is in love with you, sweetie.”

  “No, she isn’t,” he immediately denied my claim.

  Nas nodded. “Yes, she is, Lev. Always has been.”

  His brow bunched in confusion. “What?” Then he shook his head. “No. We’re friends. Just friends.”

  I wasn’t ready for what Nas would say next. She sounded pissed. “Oh yeah? Then why’d you take her virginity?”

  My breath left me in a sudden exhale. “Excuse me? You slept with Anika?” My head spun with this new information.

  “Yes,” Lev replied calmly then turned a glare on his sister. “I didn’t know she was a virgin.”

  Nas stalked over to him, lifting her hand and poking him in the chest with her finger. “Don’t play dumb. She saved herself for you. Planned your whole fucking lives together up until the time where you’d grow old together and have matching side-by-side tombstones. Then you fucked her and gave her nothing. She’s been mooning over you since.” She glowered up into his face. “You fucked up. You fix it. I am so done with this shit.”

  Lev’s face lost all expression. He blinked, dumbfounded. “She loves me?”

  I was worried by the way he said it, like he couldn’t believe that Anika could feel something for him. My heart began to race. It hurt to acknowledge the facts. Overall, she was the better option. She was Russian. She was prettier than me. Her family had been a part of Chaos. She had already told me that she could be there for him in a way that I couldn’t and she was probably right.

  What did this mean for me? For us?

  Slow as can be, a crack began to form through the center of my heart. This could be it. I could lose him. And so soon after I finally got him.

  His gorgeous honeyed eyes met mine. “Wait. Has she been making you feel uncomfortable?”

  Fear and anger had me spitting, “Only all the goddamn time.” Panic had me revealing it all. “She flirts with you. She touches you. She made sure I saw you beating on that idiot Moretti guy.” If it was over, it was over. My shoulders slumped. “She loves you, Lev.” I whispered this in a way that said If you want her, now’s your chance. “And she’ll do anything to get you.”

  Lev held out his hand, waiting. I blinked down at it a long moment then sighed in relief, placing my hand in his. His fingers twined through mine and it felt like home.

  He chastised me gently, “I told you I don’t read people well. Why didn’t you tell me, mouse?”

  My heart slowed its pace. The feeling of his warm skin on mine calmed me. “Why would I? It would have caused problems. What can you do? It doesn’t matter.”

  “Your feelings matter to me very much.” His free hand came up to softly pinch my chin. He lifted my face to look into his fierce glare. “I would have told her that my affections belonged to another, that I was happiest with my mouse. That all I could ever offer her was friendship.” He shook my chin lightly. “But you didn’t give me the chance to do that. And now you’re pouting.”

  My eyes narrowed and my lips puckered. “I am not.”

  “You are,” he called me out. Then his eyes softened and he kissed my pouting lips hard. “Now stop it or I’ll kiss them raw.”

  He let go of my chin and stomped up the stairs, leaving Nas and me alone in the foyer. After a moment, I called up the stairs, “Now, was that a threat? Or a promise?”

  The sound of Nastasia’s gagging had me laughing softly.

  Chapter Thirty

  Lev

  “We need to talk,” I spoke into the receiver as soon as he answered.

  Igor Alkaev was a hard man. Luckily for him, I understood men like him.

  His Russian accent harsh, I heard his sneer through the phone. “Unless you are calling me to arrange initiation into Zakon, I don’t want to hear it, Leokov.” A slight pause. “What do you want?”

  “I believe I made things clear to you. Your family would have no contact with mine. No excuses.”

  Igor sounded tired when he began with, “If this is about Lidiya...”

  For once, it wasn’t about Lidiya. I cut in with, “Corinna approached my woman today.”

  I heard him breathing, but he didn’t speak for a long while. “So it’s true then?” He sighed. “I had hoped you and Irina would get past your problems and unite in marriage.”

  My lip curled. “I know that’s what you wanted, but I have told you time and time again that Irina and I would never be married.”

  He spoke quietly, but the anger wasn’t hard to miss. “Who is she, the girl?”

  My hand came down on my desk, the harsh slap reverberating through the room. I stood and snarled into the cell, “None of your concern.”

  Igor enjoyed my sudden outburst and tried to feed it. “Some of my men say she looks like an angel. That her beauty is unmatched. Perhaps I will have to meet this woman.” I growled, but he went on, “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to marry Irina?” He came across as bored. “You would do well to remember my promise, Lev. It would be a shame for Lidiya to disappear with her mother. You know how Irina can be. So flighty. All she would have to do is board a plane with her daughter and—”

  My fury rose and I cut him off with a shout, “My daughter. Lidiya is my daughter. Irina was nothing more than a vessel.” My voice shook with anger. “Irina is not fit to call herself a mother, and I will bide my time until the day Lidiya is returned to her home, here with me.”

  Igor clicked his tongue. “Such animosity.” Then he sighed, “I understand your concern, Leokov, but Irina is not the monster you make her out to be. She may not be very maternal, but she does love Lidiya. We all love Lidiya.”

  My eyes closed and I swallowed hard. I had to remind myself that Irina was a good actress and could lie so well that even Sasha was shocked by the sudden turn in her character. Igor didn’t know his own daughter.

  If only he knew.

  He would know soon enough. They all would. Mirella was good at her job. I didn’t want to rush the situation. When you rushed, you became sloppy, and if Irina thought for one moment that I had a plan, she would disappear into the night with my baby.

  I couldn’t let that happen. Lidiya was my world, and if she were taken away from me, I don’t know what I would do.

  This conversation was giving me a headache. “Tell Corinna to stay away.”

  Igor responded with an uninterested, “I’ll talk to her.” Then he hung up.

  My heart pounded in my chest. Every day away from my little girl was a painful death on it’s own. I needed her. She was the only thing I had done right in my entire life. She was proof that even the most damaged person could produce something special.

  Wait. Just wait.

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. No. I was done with waiting.

  It’s too soon.

  If I felt I had the strength to wait any longer, I would, but too much time had passed already. I needed my daughter.

  I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear. Mirella answered with a happy, “Hello, Mr. Lev. What can I do for you?”

  “I need you to speed things up.”

  At my tone, she spoke quietly, “How much time do I have?”

  “A week,” I responded. I couldn’t wait much longer.

  She said confidently, “I’ll get it done, Mr. Lev.”

  “Give Lidi a kiss for me, will you?”

  She whispered her response. “In a week, you can give it to her yourself.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Mina

  It was the third night in a row that Lev and I would be sent home early from lack of customers. It was worrying. If things kept on the way they were, half the staff of Bleeding Hearts would be out of a job.

 
Was it so terrible that the only thing on my mind was sex?

  Lev and I had become thoroughly acquainted with each other’s bodies. There was not a place on his tall, strong frame that my lips had not grazed, a place I had not sucked, licked, or sighed against in pleasure. But the main deed…it still had yet to happen. From the intense stares Lev had given me from across the floor during the night, I had a feeling that tonight would be the night.

  As it turned out, I was not wrong.

  Hooray!

  As we undressed for bed, I watched in awe as Lev stripped down to nothing, his muscular body bare, sauntering over to where I lay in nothing but a pair of white panties and bra. His eyes hooded, he climbed over me, sitting up, reaching down to unclip the front hook of my bra.

  The material fell away and my small breasts reacted to his adoring gaze, my nipples taut with arousal. His hands glanced my waist then up past my ribs until he gave me the contact I so needed, running his thumbs over the tightening buds.

  At my small gasp, his hard cock jerked lightly in response, the dewy precum at the head of him all but begging to be licked away. He towered over me and I loved it, the feeling of being so small under him, the feeling that he could overpower me, but knowing he never would.

  It was a powerful thing to cause a want so fierce in the person you loved.

  His head dipped and he took one sensitive nipple into his mouth. It was something he did often. I wasn’t sure if it was because he knew how wet I got when he did it, or if it was just because he liked my nipples in his mouth. Either way, it worked for the both of us.

  He went to town, nipping then laving the peaks of my breasts, and doing it over and over again until I was whimpering from need. My body felt hollow and begged to be filled.

  His deft fingers worked quickly to remove my panties. One quick tug and they were history, nothing but a scrap of satin on our bedroom floor.

  “Bend your legs. Knees up, baby,” he commanded, and I obeyed, bending my knees and allowing him an unrestricted view of my wet core.

  Lev’s gaze flashed with heat. He ran his big hands down my knees and smoothed them across my inner thighs until his fingertips lightly grazed my outer lips.

  His middle finger teased me, gently running over my needy entrance, coating itself in my arousal. My cheeks stained pink as my heart beat harder, faster. I needed it. “Please,” I whispered.

  He granted my wish, the tip of his finger slipping inside me in a deliberately slow pace. Bit by bit, he worked himself inside me. A whimper escaped me as I gripped the sheets, twisting them in my hands. My pussy clenched greedily, sucking him in, begging for more.

  His low growl sent shivers over my body. “You’re so small, baby. So tight.”

  When I felt the tip of a second finger attempting to join the first, I moaned softly and my knees fell outwards, allowing more room for Lev to work. He removed the first finger from my body and I whined, begging for it back.

  His eyes alight, he spoke softly, “More?”

  “More,” I uttered firmly.

  Two fingers played at my folds, working themselves up and down through my wetness, preparing to enter me. I held my breath as they paused right there. They were pushed inside of me slowly until I was full.

  It was perfect. I was so turned on. I wanted more, but wasn’t sure I could take it.

  Lev stated, “I’m bigger than this, baby. I need to try for three, okay? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Three fingers sounded like one too many, but he was right. He was big, and that big cock could do damage if I wasn’t prepared well enough. My voice soft, I gave him permission. “Okay.”

  The fingers pulled out and in came a third. This time, I was grateful for the slow pace he liked to tease me with. Three fingers an inch inside of me became painful. I winced and moaned out loud, and not in a sexy way.

  Lev removed the digits and rubbed his thumb across my clit. My body reacted immediately. “Okay,” he said. “We can wait, mouse. No rush.”

  Was he freaking kidding me?

  My head shot off the bed. “No! I’m done waiting. I want you inside of me, Lev. Please.” I whispered, my eyes begging, “Honey, please.”

  He shook his head. “You’re so small. I’m going to hurt you.”

  I didn’t care by that point. I wanted us to be together in every sense of the word. No more waiting.

  “Lev, I’m a big girl. I can handle i—” My protest was cut off when his head descended between my leg, his mouth sucking on my clit. His fingers came back to where I needed them, two fingers pushing inside then pulling out slightly.

  He was finger fucking me while his mouth did delicious things to me, and I was in heaven.

  My head fell to the mattress, my eyes rolled back, and a long moan was forced out of me.

  I was wetter than ever before. Someone would be sleeping in a damp patch tonight. And at the incredible assault I was enduring, I would not complain if it were me.

  I wasn’t prepared for the third finger to join in, but when it was pushed inside of me, Lev nibbled at my clit. And I just about lost my mind with desire.

  It didn’t hurt so much this time, and with every time he withdrew then pushed back inside, I could feel myself accept what was given. My body was grateful.

  Out of nowhere, it started.

  My palms began to sweat. My legs went rigid. My eyes widened, and my lips parted in a silent moan. I whispered, “Oh, God. Yes. More.”

  Lev didn’t need me to ask. He finger fucked me harder, his digits trying desperately to work themselves past his fingers’ halfway point. His tongue came out to play, flicking me where I needed it most then suckling my throbbing bud.

  My stomach tightened. I panted harshly and whimpered a hushed, “Shit. Oh, shit. I’m coming, baby.”

  The moment it hit me, my back bowed off the bed, my body convulsing in a rigid display of pleasure. It was an overload. Lev’s fingers did not leave me, rather fought me to stay inside my pulsing channel, his hand gripping my thigh tightly, pulling me down.

  My breath hitched as I continued to pant. One last tremor and my body broke out in goosebumps. I lifted my head to peer into Lev’s eyes. “I need you.”

  Something about the way I said it must have told Lev that I meant it, because his fingers retracted slowly and then he was on top of me, his lips worshipping mine in a wet, deep kiss that I felt to my toes. He reached down to grip himself and guided the head of his cock to my hot, swollen core. The moment the tip of him kissed my waiting slit, he pulled back to look at me. Reaching across the bed, he opened the drawer to pull out a condom.

  I licked my lips. “Can we go bare?”

  He pulled back, blinking down at me. “I don’t know. Can we?”

  I nodded. “We can.”

  He hesitated. I soothed his doubt. “You remember when I had those wicked period cramps I had?” He nodded. I felt sheepish exposing my lie. “It wasn’t period cramps. I had pain because Nas took me to see Pox’s sister. I got a birth control device put inside of me.” I smiled softly, reaching up to run my fingers over his lips. “I’m clean. No babies for me. We can go bare.” I quickly added, “If you want to, I mean.”

  That was what I said. What I meant was: If you trust me, that is.

  The condom packet was flung across the room and Lev smiled down at me.

  He fucking smiled at me.

  It hit me with so much force that I forgot I needed oxygen to live. I breathed out a shaky, “Oh my. Your smile.”

  I was overwhelmed.

  He smiled. And it was aimed at me.

  It was all for me.

  His smile came down over me and I felt his grin at my lips as he kissed me. It was all I ever wanted, and now that I had it, it made me realize I would do anything to keep it.

  He adjusted himself at my core, rose up on his elbows to look down at me, and pushed. The head of him went in smoothly, but soon I was being stretched and it was hard to stop myself from flinching. I gritted my teeth and closed m
y eyes, breathing deeply. Lev faltered, unmoving a moment, but I smiled up at him, nodding. “Lev, I want this.”

  His hands slid under my body to wrap around my lower back. He looked me in the eye. “Slow and steady, baby.”

  I braced. “Slow and steady.”

  He thrust lightly and my body fought to accept him. I was wet, but his cock was thick and long, and I wondered if this was going to work out the way I’d planned in my head.

  I closed my eyes and breathed through the initial lunges. The more he worked me, the easier it became. My body no longer fought, and the friction of Lev driving into me was sending sparks down my spine. I opened my eyes to look up at him and his hips jerked fitfully.

  He spoke through gritted teeth. “You feel incredible, mouse. Just a little more.”

  My hands gripped his forearms, my nails digging in as he plunged into me, no longer afraid of hurting me. He kept his pace for a long while before I reached up and laid my hand against his rough cheek, pulling him down for a long kiss.

  I felt hot and stretched, and his warm touch sent me into a frenzy. “I’m ready.” The naughty words sat on the tip of my tongue until I finally breathed out against his lips, “Fuck me, Lev.”

  It became clear that Lev would not be able to get the entire length of him in me. Not tonight, anyway. My guess was that it would take multiple lovemaking sessions to get there. Luckily for him, I was up for the challenge.

  Gripping my hips, he drove into me, thrusting as hard and deep as he could go without hurting me. My chest heaved with unsteady breaths. He was driving me crazy. My pussy throbbed around him and he tipped his head back, groaning.

  His arms went rigid, the veins in them sticking out, his brow furrowed as he tried to gain control over himself, but I didn’t want Lev to be controlled. I wanted him to feel as helpless as I did. I wanted him to lose himself in me as I did him. I wanted Lev in all the ways I could get him.

  I wanted him in a way that no others had him.

  My core convulsed once more and Lev let out a shout, his hips jerking wildly. “Mina.”